I took some materials for a couple of ByAnnie project bags with me to sew while I was visiting Mary. I don’t often travel with my machine when I got to Portland, because I don’t want to bring any more stuff than I already am. Mary was kind enough to let me use her Crescendo.
I wasn’t excited about using a different machine and a different brand. It can be hard to create different habits or not use the habits to which I have become accustomed.
Using the laser
I was amazed at how easy the machine quilting was on Mary’s machine. As I mentioned before, I used the button to move the presser foot up and down and I used the automatic cutter. While the pieces I was quilting were not large, they seemed to go really quickly. No drama, no problem. Actually, I barely had to do anything. Yes, I had to guide the fabric, but that was it. I used a light touch and it felt like the machine was doing everything. At one point I used the laser to guide the needle. I didn’t really need the laser since I was following the side of the foot, but it was fun to try it out.
Quilted lines in skulls
I didn’t worry about doing fancy machine quilting; I just did some straight lines and used a foot with an attachment that means about an inch from the previous line. You can see the white guide on the right in the photo above.
I am pleased with the way the quilting came out and am also pleased with the process in general. Now all I need to do is put the bags together.
I rummaged around in the drawer I have for fabric intended for gift bags. Amazingly, I found a fat quarter of pirate treasure fabric. It is the perfect fabric for my little great nephew.
The EPP ball is all wrapped up and will be heading off to San Diego tomorrow. I need to look up why I bought this fabric.
Remember when I made the EPP ball? Well, it is time to send it off. I have, as you know, two of them to get off to their recipients. I decided at the last minute I needed to make some gift bags. This is for my great niece. It is her second birthday.
I am back from my trip to Portland. As usual, I went to get my mom away from home for a rest and to see my sister, the YM and some friends.
Unfortunately, La Pass is too big to bring with me on trips now. But I am working on it every spare moment I can. DH was gone for a week and I just left it laying on the living room floor and worked on it as I passed by.
La Pass Corner & Side
I decided, and I hope I can remember, that I would work on this side. I plan to fill in with pieces up to the tip of that green spike, then sew on a larger piece of background fabric. I think most of this side will get cut off, but I still need to add some background pieces to straighten up the edges.
So far, I have only put the paper pieces down on the floor. I haven’t taken the time to tape them together and create larger sections from them. I need to do that soon as I can’t leave it on the floor forever, especially with DH home now.
I know I showed these separately the other day, but I had to show you how they fit together. Aren’t they cute together?
As mentioned, I think the small one came out the wrong size, but I still think it is cute. I think it could be useful, too. It would fit very well into not a very large purse for … small items – makeup, sweets, toothbrush and toothpaste, etc.
Two Hackneys for Mom – interior
The small one also fits inside the large one. I am not sure why a person would use it that way. It is an observation, however.
I have touted the fabulousness of the Modern American Vintage tools. Since I was sewing with Mary, I brought my travel tool bag. In it was my fabulous turning tool. This was partially because I keep it in my travel bag, but I also wanted to show Mary.
Making a turning tool
We had a long talk about it, then we showed it to Mary’s husband, who has a wonderful wood shop and is a great woodworker (carpenter?). He immediately said to just buy from Modern American Vintage (which you should do!), that he couldn’t make it as well or as inexpensively as MAV. As the day wore on, he got more intrigued with the idea of the tool. By the end of the day he had started to try making one of the tools.
This is the same as deciding you want to try and make a certain complicated bag or a difficult quilt block. I loaned him the tool so we’ll see what he comes up with.
I finished this bag back in June. I couldn’t show it until today, because I intended it to be a birthday gift for Mom. She sometimes reads my blog, so I had to keep it a secret.
This was problematic as back in June, I was struggling to keep up with posting. Work was really busy and I was struggling to sew, which meant I didn’t have a lot to post. I should have finished another bag for someone who doesn’t read the blog, but wanted to try finishing one of the bags I cut out with the Cricut.
Paint Tube Hackney – open/exterior
Regardless, I finished this bag. I was concerned at first, because it was the small sized version of this bag and I thought it would be harder to sew. It was a little tight in places, but I was able to easily finish it.
I had to recalculate the handle size and position. I was a little off, but it will work.
Paint Tube Hackney – open/interior
I think the back panel is a great opportunity for fussy cutting, so I took some of the Laurel Burch fabric I bought for mom and cut out some of the cats. I think it looks cute.
I also made a tool holder in the top instead of the mesh pocket. I didn’t want to fuss with that tiny space and I think the tool holder / elastic bands will be more useful for Mom.
I couldn’t go to Sew Day, because I was driving my mom to Portland. Instead we had a Sew Day with Mary M on the way and that was a great substitute for the guild Sew Day I missed.
Mary M’s workroom
She has a large and fabulous workroom. We both sewed there and Mom worked on her hand project with no issues and we didn’t trip over each other.
This is only half the room. To my left is a small office area where Mom sat near the window to hand quilt.
Bernina 570
You can see that she has two very nice machine, a Bernina 570 and a Crescendo by Baby Lock.
Berninas were out of favor, sort of, for awhile, but I know 3 people who have purchased one in the past year or so. Mary bought this machine, the embroidery module and the table from a friend who decided to go back to baking. She was still getting used to it when I was there.
Mary’s Crescendo
I sewed on her Crescendo. I never tried a Baby Lock before, but really liked the machine. I was quilting some parts for bags and the machine helped me speed through the work.
I have seen the ad on the YouTube video I watch for the invisible join tutorial. This is a very helpful video on how to join the ends of binding that you may have missed when I posted it the first time.
I used the automatic cutting feature, which I have never used before, the laser and the button for foot up and down. All of these features worked together to make quilting some bag parts much more palatable. It is also fun to try a different machine.
I have made a number of these Hackney bags, but this one is special as it is for my mom for her birthday, which is today!
This one also really came out well. I am super pleased with it.
I used some zipper tape I have had for awhile. I bought it from Sew Sweetness in January in both black and white. I am pleased with how the rainbow metallic of the zipper teeth enhance the look of the paint tube fabric. I did forget to add a second zipper head, but the bag will still be able to be closed with a zipper, so no problem.
Mom’s Hackney Bag: interior
I used a more Decovil** and DecorBond** than in other Hackneys. Note, I didn’t add an excessive amount, just a bit more. I have to remind myself that I like structured bags and I should add more appropriate interfacing when I need to.
I thought I had a ton of red fabric, but I didn’t have quite enough for the front panel of this bag. I still think it looks nice. It looks very cheerful on the inside.
Mom’s Hackney Bag: interior mesh pocket
Yes, I made the mesh pocket again. As I said before, I think they are useful; I just don’t like making them, but practice makes perfect. I think I would like to try making it a different way. I don’t want to fold the edge of the zipper tape as much as the pattern says. The edge of the zipper tape gets ensconced in the seam allowance, so there really isn’t a reason not to leave it raw. It is easier and tidier not to go through all of those layers of folded zipper tape anyway.
I will say that the fabric I found matches the zipper and the foldover elastic very well.
I think I still need more practice making the inside.
Mom’s Hackney Bag: exterior
The outside looks very good, though.
I oriented the directional fabric a little differently this time. I oriented the top exterior piece so the paint tubes are right side up when the bag is being carried. The bottom paint tube are oriented at a 90 degree angle from the top.
Mom’s Hackney Bag: handle
The handle is also in the right place, which makes me really happy.
One thing I haven’t figured out is where to put the handle in terms of the distance between exterior top and exterior bottom. I hope I remembered to measure where this handle is placed before I gave it away. 😉
Mom’s Hackney Bag: interior bottom
I am doing a better job of remembering to sew my labels in. I wrote myself a note on the pattern, so sewing in a label has become another step in the process. You can see the labels in the photo on the right. I try to include one of my Wunderlabels as well as a label from my 2022 Advent Calendar.
Mom’s Hackney Bag: exterior top
So, another Hackney under my belt. I feel like writing another post showing them all. Maybe I should make myself one.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
The QST 16 Patch donation quilt is coming along pretty well.
I used some random blocks I had been making for the guild, as I mentioned, but I also added a few more to make the quilt just a little larger.
I used some of that striped black fabric I bought a lot of twice( !!!) by accident. I think I have enough of that stripe to make another one of these quilts. Of course, I should finish this one first. 😉
This project has turned into a little bit of a problem. Not because of the project itself, but because I lost the directions and couldn’t remember the name of the project. I kept thinking ‘poncho’, but, while unusual, capelet is much nicer sounding term. Fortunately, a friend came through and I have the directions again.
The last time I talked about this project was in 2020, which I found after my friend emailed me. I am really glad she was willing to help. I didn’t do my normal librarian thing when I got this pattern – creating a folder on my computer and storing the directions there, adding metadata in case I couldn’t think of the name. Who know why I didn’t do that? At least I know that a little bit of organizing is super helpful, especially for a craft I only work on sporadically.
Woodland Capelet in process
I got a link to the Ravelry page where this project lives and added it to my account. I think this is the first time I have added a project to my account. I have never found a record type called ‘random scarves I make up myself’.
I am taking this with me on an upcoming trip and it would be great to finish it. I may not finish it as the pattern says exactly, but I hope I have enough time to finish it. I’d like it off my to do list.
Yep, I finished the top and back. I feel much lighter now that it is done.
I am also pleased with how it turned out. I don’t kn ow if I will make this pattern again, but it is possible.
I am sure I said somewhere when I worked on the Metroscape quilt or the Mod Lights tablerunner that the Quick Curve ruler projects come out really well. Not all of my points match up in this quilt, but they are close enough in most cases.
Metro Twist back
I put the back together relatively quickly. The label is a little lower than I normally sew it, but I wrote Colleen a note about in case I forget to tell her if I ever see her again. 😉
Another project off my list. My pile of quilts for Colleen is growing.
I LOVE this box of zippers from Sew Hungry Hippie. They are super fun colors. I’d love to find a project where I could use a bit of all of them.
I decided to use Modern Background Colorbox by Zen Chic – Bermuda Crosses on White for the background of my La Passacaglia quilt. I have 2-2.5 yards. I am almost sure that is enough, but did a web search to see if it was still available. I ended up finding some at Quilted Thimble Cottage and ordered it. Better safe than sorry, right? I have to say that I was thrilled with the service from Quilted Thimble Cottage. The owner called me to check something about my order and then gave me a free yard of the fabric! Their stock isn’t completely up to date on their website, but what they have is interesting. If you need some Half Moon Modern, they have a few pieces left.
Sue Spargo has a wide variety of labels in her shop. She has a wide variety of generic ‘made by me’ type labels as well as labels with images and icons. One group is called the Sweary Sewist. Lots of f**k on those labels!
Last month, Lynette gave a demonstration of various interfacings for bags. She used a pattern she bought at the Fat Quarter Shop. I was looking for one that might work for such a project (despite the fact that I have 5 million pouch patterns!). I kind of wanted to try a pattern with a template. I have been seeing some of these pop up as advertisements in various social media feeds. I found one from Quiltd that wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but I thought looked interesting and useful.
As I was looking through the Center Street Quilts videos on IG, I saw a video of the Stella Pouch with a clear back. A second video shows a lot more of the steps, if you aren’t hung up on sizes. I hadn’t heard of the Stella Pouch, but, seriously, there are about 2 million pouch patterns and I think I am attracted to the charcoal grey with the rainbow Flying Geese. The samples shown in the pattern are not as interesting. I do think the fact that a short video of the finished pouch is included in the shop listing is interesting. This shop does love quilting their fabric and foam and then binding the inside raw edges. I do not love that technique, but the rainbow Flying Geese pouch with one side made from vinyl wouldn’t be possible without using that technique.
Need a gift or a scissor holder for yourself? Check out this YouTube tutorial. It holds three pair!
While I was chasing Chasing Tigers links, I came across a tantalizing picture of a “Little Busy Bag“. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of the inside and it looks like a regular cross body bag. I think the Sew Sweetness Daytrip cell phone wallet from Minikins Season 2 might be a more useful option. Smaller, yes, but more organized.
Media, Books and Articles
I talked with Cyndi about her Parallel Universe quilt, which got us on to the topic of Gyleen, Ebony and Latifah’s second joint mystery quilt, The Elemental Mystery Quilt. We looked up a picture. They have a choppy design sense. I don’t mean this in a bad way. The elements are put together into chunks. Later, I looked up a podcast about the project.
Events, Shops, Exhibits and Shows
One of the good things about being in a guild is that you hear things. One thing I heard is that there is a new shop, Coastside Quilt Studio, near me. It is actually on the way to my favorite grocery store. I haven’t been there yet as the shop hours are not very convenient for working people, but I’ll go take a look when I am able.
**N. B. : Obviously, you should shop at local quilt shops and small businesses. However, if you are too busy or can’t find what you need there, I use Amazon affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item’s link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.
The other day, I talked a little about my design process. I also inferred that I wasn’t going to waste time designing when I could be sewing, so I went and started this quilt for the BAM Community Quilts project.
QST 16 Patch #1 – start
I did start sewing and I made a good start with some of the blocks I showed a few days ago. I thought I might as well use them, after all.
I was pleased with the black and white stripped fabric. I think it looks unexpectedly good.
